The star appears on the online meeting and right away starts an explanation. “Apologies for the delay!” she states, sounding really regretful. Although she's only slightly delayed, she needs to justify. “My phone conversations always run long.” “Earlier calls made me late—I just can’t stop chatting!” Luckily, for a writer, this is just what one hopes to hear. Besides, it’s quite predictable. Those who know the boldly openly gay and unapologetically crass film Bottoms—that Sennott collaborated on with her creative partner and featured in alongside collaborator Ayo Edebiri—will understand that Sennott has much to say, whether about identity, sex, or the pros of creating a youth fight club. And, after watching her new seasonal HBO series I Love LA, it becomes obvious that she carries even more thoughts on the darker side of Gen Z life (Now in her thirties, Sennott serves as a bridge of the gang, straddling eras adept for straddling millennials and Gen Z).
Inspirations and Creative Vision
Parallels to the iconic series Girls are inevitable and Sennott admits to being a fan, citing the show together with the HBO hit, Issa Rae’s show and Atlanta as inspirations for I Love LA, which tracks the journey of a social media star played by Odessa A’Zion and close companion and new representative Sennott’s character. Notably, the largest spot on the moodboard belonged to the popular sitcom, that HBO sitcom depicting an up-and-coming Hollywood star making his way in a gritty Hollywood (memorable line: “happiness eludes everyone but failures in this city”). Sennott discovered it throughout lockdown, became “obsessed”, and chose to add a fresh perspective on it “for the girls and the gays”.
“My aim was to focus on digital fame over traditional entertainment, as my own beginnings were on the web,” she notes. The concept for the series emerged—to some extent—from firsthand, initially fractious, relocation to Los Angeles and from the astrological phase, a popular occurrence for astrology heads. That period marked a time that saw her grasp major insights, work-wise and personally. “My twenties began with constant public emotional outbursts and disorganization,” she recalls. “Settling in LA during my mid-twenties brought calm, but soon everything unraveled.” It was almost like these biblical tests …”
Humble Origins
Growing up in Connecticut, Sennott began creating and acting comedy while studying performance at New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. “Despite trying every conventional route, I couldn’t find my footing,” she explains. “Auditions for university comedy troupes led to universal rejection. “Theatre productions at school also didn’t accept me. And I just felt like, what am I doing here?”
She seized control, appearing at amateur nights with Ayo and uploading hysterical (and distinctly) weird comedy videos digitally. One, titled Baby Cult, followed a group of women obsessively fixated on motherhood; a different one imagined being employed at a trendy retail outlet as like being trapped in a horror film. Interestingly, she met Emma through NYU’s movie community and ended up appearing in her initial project, Shiva Baby, an anxious film set at a religious event with hints of the intense thriller. The central motif of her path, she notes, has been contemporaries giving her a shot, instead of established gatekeepers. So the old guard wasn’t helpful? “They were not involved”, she confirms, stating with a laugh: “Our victory isn’t their goal.”
Manifesting Dreams
Those who questioned regarding her then will likely be kicking themselves now. In what she labels a “incredibly circular” story, she has manifested the perfect project. A few years back she uploaded a clip named “it’s LA” on social media, in which she parodied film promos (“Everyone’s hooked on something”). Six years on, she’s the co-showrunner (with her partner) of a comedy about LA residents juggling the perks of internet fame (such as partying at a celebrity’s house) with downsides (your client being labeled as being a drug-addled stealer, and potentially becoming a “brand unsafe” outcast). One might easy to create a show about digital influence that was horribly idealized—or, more problematic, one that belittled at its subjects. I Love LA avoids both, resulting in a representation of privileged twentysomething living that’s candid about the chaos and the appeal.
Balanced Perspective
“Numerous series present younger generations and digital culture in a derogatory manner,” she comments. “I think that young people have been through a lot – I’m mostly thinking of people younger than me, like my little sister, who went to college during Covid, so she had to come home, or my other sister who was doing school online.”|“The younger generation has faced significant
